Alternate Reality: Prince Part One
by Celeste5502
Summary: The past of King Spencer's son, Prince Yuri, is slowly starting to come out...and by the end of the day, perhaps what happened to him will finally be known...
1. Prologue: Poetry

Prologue: Poetry

_Masks_

_Does anyone ever show their true self?_

_Or do we all hide behind our own masks?_

_Is it necessary for us to go on with our lives,_

_So that we can complete our mandatory tasks?_

_Are we all just actors in some play,_

_Taking on our own chosen parts?_

_Must everyone be made up with grease paint_

_That hides what's in their heads and their hearts?_

_Can't I ever take my mask off?_

_Can I let those around me see me for who I am?_

_Or am I doomed to spend the rest of my life_

_Stuck inside of this painful sham?_

* * *

_Life or Death?_

_When your life is filled with misery and pain,_

_What's the point of getting up again and again?_

_Is it because one can always hope that this is the day_

_When all of the pain will finally go away?_

_Isn't there always some slightest chance_

_That the gods will give you a second glance_

_And help to turn your life around,_

_Spin your sad world upside down?_

_I guess there's always that possibility…_

_But how come it hasn't happened to me?_

* * *

_Love_

_What does love feel like?_

_What's it like to have someone to care for you?_

_To hold you when you're feeling sad,_

_And laugh with you when times become glad,_

_To stay with you the rest of your life_

_And be your everlasting husband or wife?_

_To care about you with all of their heart _

_And remain with you till death do you part._

_For them to look up to you as their hero, their friend,_

_And to care about you till the very end…_

_I think sometimes it'll only happen for me_

_Once I finally set myself free…_

_I think someday, to find this love,_

_I must tell this world goodbye…_

_Goodbye…_

_Goodbye._

_-Poetry penned by Prince Yuri_


	2. Chapter One: Vacation

Chapter One: Vacation

It was a little bit after school had ended at Domino High. After enduring yet another day of teachers, homework, and cleaning duty, the six teenage heroes were gathering up their things and preparing to go home.

Joey slammed his school books onto his desk and said to the others, "Okay, dat's it. I'm sick of doin' all dis work an goin' tru all dese useless facts about dese stupid tings dat everyone under de sun knows we'll never need whatsoever." He picked up his books and started shoving them into his bag. "I'm ready for a vacation."

"Hey, we're not just ready for a vacation-we _need _a vacation," Tristan replied. "We don't just go to school and do our homework day after day-we save the world once or twice every week!"

"Must you people always whine so much?" Kaiba asked the two. "No one ever really needs a vacation-if you become unmotivated to work, you just need to improve upon your mental discipline and force yourself to continue on with your duties."

"Or just remember you have a complete lack of an actual life outside of a job," Joey muttered.

"What was that, Wheeler?" Kaiba glared at him.

"Oh, notin'," Joey replied, giving him a sweet smile.

As the teens walked outside, Joey continued, "We need ta get outta here and go somewhere nice…somewhere dat we won't hafta do any sort a school work, or listen ta any lectures, and _especially _not hafta save de world from anodder evil, psychopathic freak."

"I don't know, Joey…it seems like evil is always able to find us no matter where we go," Yugi said.

"Oh, great," Joey sighed. "So we're pretty much screwed."

"Well, let's at least try to get a good rest during this weekend," Téa replied. "Maybe we could go to a movie, or out to dinner, or..."

"How about just a nap," Joey let out a fake yawn. "I'm goin' home an goin' ta bed. See ya guys later."

Everyone bid each other goodbye and went walking their separate ways back to their homes (except for Kaiba who, of course, just had to take his limo).

* * *

Unbeknownst to the teens, the three gods had been watching over them closely as they spoke to each other. _Hmm, so they desire a vacation, huh,_ D.M. telepathically said to the others. _Well, we __might not be able to give that to them exactly, but it could at least be a start for our intended plan…All we need is to plant that little idea into a certain someone's mind…_

* * *

As Yugi walked down the streets towards his house, his thoughts strayed to the many villains they'd beaten in the past. The Pharaoh spoke to him in his mind: _Yugi, how many different adventures have we had now since we've received these powers?_

Yugi considered that for a moment. _Let's see…Queen Kaosu, Copycat, Susiros and Resheph …wow…I think that by now we've had about sixteen different ones._

_Perhaps Joey's right, _the Pharaoh thought. _After saving our world and Spencer's world so many times, we just might need to take some time to relax._

_Maybe,_ Yugi replied, _but how would we find the time to do that? And where would we go?_

Suddenly, Yugi heard a voice call out from behind him, "Hey, Yug! Wait up!"

Yugi turned around and saw that a young man who looked just like the Pharaoh, save for his orange-tan skin, was running up towards him with a wide grin on his face.

"Spencer!" Yugi cried.

Spencer skidded to a stop right next to Yugi and said, "Nice to see you, _amigo mío._ And I have good news: I'm not here to announce that yet another nutcase has come to your world with plans to take over or destroy you or anything like that._"_

"So then you have a problem in your world which you need help with," Yugi concluded.

"Nope," Spencer shook his head. "Not at all."

Yugi stared at him. "How come you're here, then?"

"Well," Spencer said as the two continued walking down the street, "while I was just hanging out in my mansion, I came to realize that I was kind of bored and lonely in there with nobody to be with and no one to fight against at the moment, so…the thought came to my mind that maybe you guys could come over to my place and hang out there for a little while…you know, like a miniature vacation of sorts."

Yugi stopped dead in the middle of the sidewalk. "Are you joking?" he cried out.

Spencer blinked. "Um, no. It's not a problem, I hope."

"No, of course not!" Yugi cried. "My friends and I were just talking at school about how we needed a vacation from battling evil and such." He paused. "Wait…but how are we going to get away without our parents noticing?"

Spencer grinned. "I've already got it all figured out-tonight you guys can pack your things and come to a special custom portal which I'll set up in the warehouse; then, once all of you have come through, I'll just completely freeze time in your world, and you all can stay as long as you want without anybody even noticing that you're gone!"

"Gone where?" a voice suddenly said.

Yugi and Spencer looked up to see that they had reached the Game Shop and Yugi's Grandpa was standing right outside of it, leaning on a broom he'd been using and eyeing them with suspicion.

"Oh, uh, nowhere, Grandpa," Yugi quickly replied.

"Yugi, you know this young man?" Grandpa said, looking up at Spencer.

Yugi stared up at Spencer. "When did you meet Grandpa?"

"A little bit ago," Spencer replied. "When he came back after doing a bunch of errands even though he was dead tired and I finally convinced him to go back upstairs and get some rest. You were out at that moment."

_As in out in the dream world,_ he told Yugi telepathically.

"Oh," Yugi replied as casually as possible. "Okay, I gotcha." He looked back at his grandfather and said, "Grandpa, this is a friend of mine from school. Spencer, my Grandpa."

"Pleasure to meet you personally, sir," Spencer said, holding his hand out to Grandpa Muto.

"And you too, young man," Grandpa said, shaking Spencer's hand.

Suddenly, he took a small step backwards, and a slightly contorted look crossed his face.

"Sir?" Spencer cried.

"Grandpa, are you all right?" Yugi asked with great concern.

"Oh, uh, yes-absolutely," his grandfather replied, shaking the sudden shock out of his head. "Sorry, just felt a little dizzy there for a moment, that's all."

"Well, we're going to go upstairs in my room, Grandpa," Yugi said, stepping through the door of the shop.

"Yeah, we need to go upstairs and pack," Spencer said.

"What?!" Grandpa cried.

"TALK! Go upstairs and talk! That's what I meant!" Spencer quickly replied before he dashed inside, flustered.

_What the flip was with me? _he thought to himself. _Since when do I blab like that?_

Grandpa stared at Yugi and Spencer as they walked through the back of the shop into the house. _Hmm…what exactly is going on with those two…_he thought to himself. _They're certainly acting suspicious…perhaps I should keep an eye on them for the rest of today…_

* * *

_Ah, good-so we can be pretty much assured that all of them will be coming tonight._

"Mmm-hmm."

_And when they do, most of the other parts of our plan can simply fall into place…_


	3. Chapter Two: Through the Portal

Chapter Two: Through the Portal

Nighttime had fallen over Domino. Almost everyone was sleeping soundly in their beds-save for seven teens, who were preparing for a nice, quiet vacation in the Dimension of the Gods. It almost seemed like nothing could disturb the silence.

Grandpa Muto was also slumbering in his room when a loud _crash_ suddenly came from down the hallway. His eyes snapped wide open upon hearing the noise.

He sat upwards in his bed, moving his nightcap's tassel out of his face. _What was that?_ he thought to himself.

Slowly, Grandpa got up and slipped his feet into his slippers. He tiptoed out of his room and down the hallway towards Yugi's bedroom.

He slowly pushed the door open a crack and peered inside. He saw a fully dressed Yugi staring up through the window at the top of his bedroom, with his white duffel bag by his side and and pieces of shattered glass on the floor before him.

Grandpa looked up in shock to see Spencer standing on the roof near the edge of the window, staring down through its shattered panes. "How the frick did that happen?!" he whispered urgently. "For the love of the gods, I'm never klutzy like that!"

"It's okay, Spencer, don't worry," Yugi said. "Let's just let it go and get moving."

"Yes, right," Spencer nodded. He held a hand down towards the duffel bag.

Grandpa watched in shock as the duffel bag floated upwards towards Spencer's outstretched hand all on its own. _What the…_he thought to himself.

Spencer grabbed the duffel bag and said, "Okay, got the luggage. Now let's go meet the others at our good ol' abandoned warehouse."

"Right," Yugi said. He slowly floated up towards the shattered window and through it. Spencer then held out his hand once more and let it glow with a golden light.

The shattered pieces of glass glowed for a moment, then lifted themselves up back to the window and recreated their former, perfectly fine panes.

Grandpa quickly dashed downstairs and up to the glass door of the Game Shop. There, he watched as Yugi and Spencer transformed into showers of what looked like blue and gold sparks and flew off into the distance.

Quickly, he dashed back through the back door of the shop. Moments later, he came back out, dressed in his green overalls and tying his orange headband onto his head. He dashed out the door of the shop and went down the same direction that Yugi and Spencer had just flown, thinking to himself, _Something's going on here and I have to find out exactly what!_

"Okay, lemme see…got spare clothes, bathin' suit, sunblock, disposable camera…what am I missin' here…" Joey said, rifling through his bag.

"Your mind?" Kaiba glared at him. "How stupid can you be to even think of taking pictures of some completely different world?"

The other five were standing around in the warehouse, their bags placed by their sides. Once Yugi and Spencer had gone upstairs that afternoon, Spencer had called them using his telepathy and told them about his offer. After being reassured that they weren't being asked to come fight off some evil psycho, they'd eagerly agreed to come to Spencer's world for a vacation (for Kaiba it took a lot of convincing on Spencer's part, mostly with reassurance that laptop computers would still work in his world).

Joey glared angrily at Kaiba and said, "Ey, Kaiba, I tink you forgot ta bring any niceness wit cha-oops, wait, dat was lost, what, a couple a eons ago?"

Kaiba just glared and watched as Joey took the camera out, transformed the hand which held it into a diamond fist, and crushed the camera to pieces.

The showers of blue and gold sparks flew through the roof of the warehouse, floated down onto the ground, and transformed back into Yugi and Spencer.

Spencer handed the white duffle bag back to Yugi and looked around at the others. "Okay, everyone here? Everyone got their necessary luggage and all that other stuff? Yes? Good."

He pulled out a custom portal box and tossed it towards the far end of the warehouse. One zap into the opening, and a portal formed which led directly to the front door of Spencer's house.

Spencer grinned at the others and said, "Welcome to Hotel Spencer, _amigos míos. _I do hope you'll find that your accommodations are quite to your satisfaction."

"We're stayin' in your mansion for dis vacation?" Joey cried. "Sweet! High life here we come!" He dashed towards the portal and through to the other dimension, throwing the door to the mansion open and running inside of it with delight. The others quickly followed after him, with Spencer being the last. Before he jumped through, he turned around and held out one hand. "TIME FREEZE!" he yelled out.

A strange sort of power passed through the warehouse and all throughout the entirety of the teen heroes' universe. Clocks stopped ticking, people froze in mid-snore, even the earth itself stopped spinning on its axis.

Once this was complete, Spencer nodded to himself and jumped through the portal. In its wavy image, one could see Spencer dash up to the house and slam the door shut behind him.

Once he'd gone through, the portal started to close up; however, a white orb of light suddenly appeared near the roof of the warehouse and grew into another portal which the three gods stood within.

D.M. held up his hand. The portal suddenly stopped its closing.

With a snap of his fingers, time continued on its normal course.

After a short pause, the door to the warehouse suddenly flew open and Grandpa Muto rushed in crying out, "Yugi, young man, what do you and your friends think you're do-" He skidded to a stop.

He stared at the portal which still stood at the end of the warehouse. "What in the…" he breathed out.

Slowly, he walked over to the portal and stared up and down at the image within it. He reached out and gently stuck one hand through the image, then quickly pulled it back.

The white portal floated down right behind Grandpa Muto. The three watched as he stared in awe at the other world beyond it. "Where is that place?" he asked himself.

_Now._

F.S. suddenly reached out of the portal and shoved Grandpa through it. He fell face first onto the ground.

Before he could get back up, D.M. shot out one hand towards him and yelled, _Sleep!_

White and black sparks shot out of his hands and directly onto Grandpa's forehead. He slowly lifted his head up for one moment, then collapsed onto the ground and fell fast asleep.

D.M. nodded. _Tomorrow morning, it shall begin._

With that, he snapped his fingers, placing Spencer's time freeze back up and snapping the portal to his world shut, leaving Grandpa stuck within it.

* * *


	4. Chapter Three: At the Beginning

Chapter Three: At the Beginning

Grandpa slowly opened his eyes. He found himself lying on the ground outside, the sun shining brightly down upon him. From its position, one could tell it was past the middle of the day.

"What…" he murmured. Slowly, he got himself onto his feet, looked around-and stopped cold once his eyes fell onto the mansion.

The place was absolutely enchanting. The two-story haven was painted a deep gold with a blue-shingled roof and blue shutters around the windows that had the slight sparkle of sapphires within them. On either side of the gold-brick walkway leading up to the house and the house itself was a perfectly manicured lawn sprinkled with cherry blossom trees in full bloom, neatly trimmed brushes, and all sorts of wildly colored flowers, some of which didn't even seem as though they were real.

_What is this place?_ he thought to himself. He looked around, attempting to find anything even remotely resembling somewhere in Domino; however, all he could see was the gold brick trail leading down to a vast forest and, beyond that, a beautiful city with high towers practically sparkled in the sunlight.

He looked up and watched in awe as a couple of kids flew through the air above the city and all the way over the beautiful mansion, with one of the kids holding the end of a leash attached to a collar on what he could have sworn was a red dragon.

"This is impossible…" he murmured.

Suddenly, he felt a strange feeling overtake him. He dropped down onto his knees and clutched tightly at his head, crying out, "Ah…ah…"

He winced his eyes shut.

* * *

_God of Life, I call to thee,_

_Tap into the magic powers that be._

_Create a little being of mine_

_The gift that's truly nature's divine._

_The chanting of the spell continued on and on, growing louder and louder as the being continued falling down through a seemingly endless space; where he was headed, he didn't know, for all he could see around him was darkness. He felt quite strange, as though his body was a bunch of tiny, energy-filled pieces in the air._

_Finally, the pieces started coming together and forming the child into a more human-like shape. Somehow, he knew that his hair was spiky and made of three different colors, and that his eyes were a __shade of deep violet. He was wearing a little T-shirt and blue jeans, with a blue blanket wrapped tightly around him. _

_The little one felt two arms come and bring him into a strong yet loving embrace. He opened his eyes and looked up into the face of a slightly older person that also had spiky tri-colored hair and deep violet eyes. Behind him was a beautiful house made of gold and blue which sparkled under the light of the full moon._

"_Hello there, little one," the person said to the child in an awestruck and ecstatic voice. "Do you know who I am?"_

"_No," the child replied frankly. "I don't even know who I am."_

_The person laughed. "Ah, of course," he said. The man thought for a few minutes, then nodded to himself and smiled. "Your name is Yuri. And I'm Spencer, but you can just call me Daddy, okay?"_

_The child, Yuri, nodded. "Okay. Nice to meet you, Daddy."_

_A tear trickled down Spencer's face. "Nice to meet you too, Yuri," he smiled._

* * *

Grandpa slowly opened his eyes. The mysterious pain was gone, but a touch of dizziness remained which made him rock a little bit as he stood up. "What…what was that?" he asked himself, holding onto his head.

From the back of the house, he suddenly heard the sounds of splashing and laughter. He turned around and thought, _Strange…those voices sound familiar…_

He quietly walked around the side of the house until he came across a row of bushes at the end which prevented any sort of entry into the place. He pushed the leaves aside and peered into the back.

There, he saw a large, practically Olympic-sized backyard swimming pool surrounded by various light-blue poolside lounge chairs with a little cabana house in the back corner that had various tropical drinks on its counter. To Grandpa's surprise, Yugi, Joey, Téa, and Bakura were swimming in the pool while Spencer sunbathed on one of the chairs and Kaiba sat off to the side typing away on a laptop.

Suddenly, Joey let out a cry and got pulled under the water. After a few moments, he popped back up and spat pool water out of his mouth. Tristan came up from the water behind him wearing a snorkel and swimming goggles. He pulled the snorkel out of his mouth and grinned as Joey whipped around and glared at him.

"Yah tink dat's funny, huh?" Joey said. "Well, den, dis should be hysterical to ya."

Joey pointed a finger into the air and shot an orb of green magic out of it.

Grandpa watched in shock as Joey quickly swam away while the orb flew back down and blasted up a huge stream of water which completely engulfed Tristan.

Once all of the water dropped back into the pool, Tristan floated where it had been with the goggles half off of his face and the snorkel on top of the water in front of him. He pulled the goggles off of his face, held his hand out at Joey, and fired out an orb of orange magic at him.

Spencer sat up and lifted up sunglasses perched on his nose, peering down at the brawling Joey and Tristan. "Guys, please refrain from all of your battles and brawls over whatever the other dude did when in the pool," he scolded the two. "And besides, that wasn't a splash."

He raised his hand up.

Nearly all of the water suddenly came up out of the pool, leaving the swimming teens floating in midair for a moment. Then, before any of them could fall, he lowered his hand down and all of the water crashed back down into the pool, sending it out all over the place. The swimming teens popped up from beneath the surface, spitting out water and brushing wet hair out of their faces.

"_That_ was a splash," Spencer grinned at them.

Joey and Tristan swam up to him, slightly shivering. "Sp-Sp-Spencer," Joey chattered out, "w-why'd you do dat…"

"Y-y-yeah, man," Tristan agreed, "the water's f-f-freezing…"

"What?" Spencer stood up and walked over to the side of the pool. He knelt down beside it and delicately touched the water. "It doesn't feel too cold to me…are you guys sure it's freezing?"

"Come in an see!" Joey yelled. He and Tristan jumped up, grabbed Spencer, and yanked him down into the water.

Suddenly, a loud, rather cold laugh came from the top of the mansion. Grandpa turned and looked up at what was apparently a pretty blue-haired girl with deep red eyes wearing a red tube top, black miniskirt, and a red cloak draped around her shoulders sitting on the roof.

"That was just wonderful!" she laughed, clapping her hands together. "If only I could have had as much luck as you little brats just did 5,497 years ago."

The teens glared up angrily at the young woman; when Spencer popped up out of the water and saw her, he yelled out, "What the frick are you doing here, Susiros?"

"Oh, nothing," the girl shrugged. "I was just bored and thought that I could use some fun, sooo…" She jumped up and floated on the air. "Catch me if you can!"

She zoomed off into the distance.

"Follow her!" Spencer yelled out, leaping out of the pool and transforming into a shower of gold sparks once more which soared into the air and right after the girl. The others quickly followed after him, transforming into other colorful showers of blue, green, orange, pink, grey, and white magic.

Grandpa ran up to the front of the place and watched as the showers swooped down towards the far-off city and out of sight. "Unbelievable…" he murmured. "How long have they been able to do that?"

His thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a _creak _beside him. He turned towards the noise and saw that the door to the mansion had slowly opened on its own. It was as though the place was beckoning to him…

He glanced back towards the city to make sure that the showers weren't coming back, then slowly walked towards the house and peered inside.

The entrance hall was just as beautiful as the outside of the place; the floor was made of white marble tile and the ceiling was decorated with gold leaf, with a crystal chandelier hanging down from it. A large staircase with gold banisters led to the upstairs rooms.

He took a step forward-and suddenly the door slammed shut behind him, sending him down onto the floor.

D.M., who along with the other two had been standing behind the door in their portal all that time, quickly held one hand out at the door and locked it shut. From inside, they could hear Grandpa Muto frantically pound on the door and rattle the doorknob.

_Sorry, sir,_ D.M. thought, _but you can't leave here. Not just yet._


	5. Chapter Four: A Mansion's Past

Chapter Four: A Mansion's Past

"Let me out of here!" Grandpa yelled out, pounding ferociously on the door. "Who are you that keeps shoving me all over the place?! That's not a very respectful way to treat your elders, you know!"

Finally, with one last pound, he stopped and shook his head. "Nobody's coming…" he muttered.

He turned around and slid down to the floor with his back up against the door. He looked up at the ceiling and gazed at the beautiful chandelier which slightly glittered as the sunlight fell on it. _Must be a big shindig one can throw here if they can afford that thing, _he thought to himself.

The strange sensation suddenly flowed through him again. He winced his eyes shut and clutched his hands to his head again.

* * *

_Little Yuri peered down from the top of the staircase at the people down below. The dancing group of men and women were all rather young and strong; Daddy had told him that they were the important people of his world, from the chiefs of the Kingrah Police Department to various ordained guardians of different cities and towns around their world. After doing so much service for their people, Spencer figured it was time that they got a chance to let their hair down and enjoy themselves. His entrance hall had changed from an elegant entryway to a dance hall, with a spinning disco ball in the chandelier's place and a perfect black and white dance floor zapped from the marble tile._

_As Yuri's eyes strayed around the room, they fell upon his father, wearing a sleeveless zip-up white vest with a stand-up collar and black trim and long black pants. He was chatting amicably with Eli and Liv, the head police of the Kingrah Police Department, and well-known boyfriend and girlfriend. Spencer suddenly felt a stray pair of eyes on him and glanced up to see Yuri peering down on him. _

_Spencer spoke a few words to the other two, then started making his way through the crowd towards the stairs. A panicked Yuri quickly tried to run back down the hallway towards his room, but quick as a wink, his father suddenly appeared in front of him after making use of his super-speed, arms folded and eyes narrowed._

_"Young man, what are you doing out of bed?" Spencer asked him._

_"I…You never came and said 'good night' to me, that's all," Yuri replied, looking down at the ground._

_Spencer's eyes widened. "Oh! Oh, Yuri, I'm sorry-I got so wrapped up in the party and such that…" His voice trailed off and his face turned a slight shade of red._

You forgot, Dad,_ Yuri thought to himself. _Don't worry, I'm used to it.

_Spencer reached out and took his son's hand. "C'mon, let's go do that right now, okay?" _

It'll only be some apologetic 'good night' now, Dad, _Yuri thought. _It's not going to matter anymore.

_"Sure, Dad, that's all right," he said with a wide smile on his face._

* * *

Grandpa slowly opened his eyes once more. He got up from the floor, using one of the doorknobs as support, and thought to himself, _What is going on with me?_

As he glanced up and around the room, his gaze suddenly fell upon the top of the stairs. Standing up there was a child who looked almost exactly like his grandson, except there was a rather sad look in his violet eyes. He wore a T-shirt with light green sleeves, blue jeans, and white tennis shoes.

Strangely, however, the child was a bit transparent, as though he wasn't really there at all.

"Who are you?" Grandpa called up to the child.

The young one didn't reply; he turned around and walked away from the stairs.

"Hey!" Grandpa yelled. He dashed up the stairway and looked down the hall just in time to see the child turn left down its end corner.

Unsure what on earth to think of it, Grandpa quickly ran down the hall and turned to the left to see the foot of the kid disappear around a corner again. With another turn, he stopped as he saw the child standing in front of a doorway a little ways down. He stared up at it for a few moments, and then vanished into thin air.

Grandpa stared at the empty space. He rubbed his eyes and said out loud, "Have I finally lost my mind?"

He walked over to the particular doorway and looked up and down at it. Slowly, he placed his hand on the knob, turned it, and gently pushed the door open.

The room appeared to be a child's bedroom. It looked comfortable enough, with a large blue bed against the center of the right wall of the room, a desk covered with papers and books pushed against the center of the left wall, a window covered with blue curtains that had a blue-cushioned window-seat, and a blue closet up against the front wall. The place apparently hadn't been used for a while, for there was undisturbed dust on the desk and closet and the bed had definitely not been slept in for some time.

_Hmm…maybe this was once that kid's room…_Grandpa thought to himself.

He suddenly fell onto his knees again and felt the pain rush through his body. He tried to keep his eyes open, but eventually he was forced to wince them tightly shut.

* * *

_Yuri was lying on his room's window-seat, writing in his poetry journal. "Can't I ever take my mask off, can I let those around me see me for who I am…" he murmured to himself. "Or am I doomed to spend the rest of my life stuck inside of this painful sham…"_

_He looked down at the words written on the pages. As he read them over and over, tears trickled slowly down his face._

_Suddenly, a shower of red sparks zoomed right through his window and into his bedroom. The sparks reformed themselves into a human girl with lovely blue hair and deep red eyes that wore a red cloak draped around her._

_Yuri's eyes brightened. "Susiros!" he cried out with delight._

_She raised a finger to her lips. "Shhh, quiet, little guy," Susiros smiled. "We don't want to wake your father up."_

_Yuri nodded. _

_"Now then," she smiled at him, "I've got a little something for you." She reached into her cloak and pulled out a bottle of glowing blue fluid. _

_"Thank you," Yuri said, taking the bottle from her outstretched hand. He gazed down at the bottle for a few moments, then said, "Susiros, will there ever be a time when I don't have to take this thing anymore?"_

_The girl shook her head. "No, Yuri. You remember what I said; your father has lots and lots of responsibilities as a king. After dealing with evil monsters and villains and psychos who want to take over the world or just plain destroy it, the last thing the poor guy needs on his plate is to deal with a couple of small fry schoolyard bullies."_

_Yuri sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right. And it's not like he'd care much if he knew anyway…" He took the bottle and stuffed it into a backpack by the side of the window-seat. "Thanks for giving me this stuff that heals their bruises and such. It's always good to take before Daddy can come home and ask about them."_

_"You're welcome," Susiros smiled. "It's my pleasure to do something helpful for the king-and remember, even if this is painful for you, it's quite helpful for your father too, sparing him this pain and all that."_

_Yuri looked down at the ground. "I sometimes wish I didn't have to do it…that I wasn't some prince that got beaten up every day by three jerks who had to hide that secret just so he wouldn't get distracted from his kingly duties…"_

_"Yeah, if only you could escape, huh?" Susiros smiled sadly._

_Yuri nodded. "But I'm a well-known prince. I couldn't run away without somebody recognizing me almost immediately, or even without them sensing out my magic if I disguised myself." He sighed. "So what could I do, then?"_

_"Welll…" Susiros thought for a moment, then shook her head. "Never mind, it's silly."_

_He looked up at her with eager eyes. "No, tell me," he pressed her. "What are you thinking?"_

_"Well, hon, it seems to me that the only way you could escape entirely would be if you…destroyed yourself."_

_Yuri's eyes widened. "What?"_

_"You heard me-it's stupid and perhaps a bit painful, I know, but if you did, your spirit could go away to some wonderful place out there and you'd never have to deal with any of those bullies or such again…" Susiros shrugged. "But like I said, it's a bit drastic, so…let's not consider it just yet. Anyway, nice to see you again, Yuri, and I'll come back later with some more healing stuff for you."_

_With that, Susiros snapped her fingers and transformed back into a shower of red sparks which soared up and out through the window._

_Yuri stared out the window for a while, deep in thought. "I couldn't do that…" he murmured to himself. "…could I?"_

* * *

Grandpa slowly opened his eyes. He was stunned by what he'd just seen. "How could she…" he murmured to himself, bringing himself back to a standing position. "That woman made that poor child hide his pain with some bogus talk about how he had to spare his father more trouble and encouraged him to destroy himself so that the pain could go away?!" He looked down at the ground in sorrow. "No wonder my grandson and his friends went after her…she must have a heart of pure darkness…" He looked up and saw, to his surprise, the vision had lasted longer than it seemed; the sun had gone down and the moon now became the bright shining light in the sky, with little stars twinkling around it.

Suddenly, he heard a door slam downstairs. He whipped around and listened as a familiar voice cried out, "Welll, dat was fun-chasin' Susiros around all day, stoppin' her from destroyin' someone every half hour or so, and losin' her at de end when she goes up in a cloud a red smoke!"

"I'm sorry, guys," Spencer's voice said. "I honestly didn't know that witch was planning on putting me through some wild little chase today."

"That's okay, Spencer," Yugi's voice said. "You couldn't have predicted it. And besides, there's always tomorrow."

"_Sí, sí,_" Spencer consented. "Let's pick up on that tomorrow, guys. Good night."

_Looks like I'll have to wait until they go to sleep to get out of here,_ Grandpa thought. He paused. _First I find out my son and his friends have superpowers, then I start having these strange visions, and now I have to somehow sneak out of a gold mansion. This is quite an interesting day._


	6. Chapter Five: The Very End

Chapter Five: The Very End

Yugi was sleeping in one of Spencer's mansion's guest rooms when he suddenly heard the sound of a small cry. His eyes slowly opened and he slightly rose his head up off of his pillow. _What was that? _he thought.

He picked up his Millennium Puzzle from the nightstand beside his bed and placed it around his neck. Quietly, he slipped his feet into his blue slippers and tiptoed over to his bedroom door.

When he opened it a crack and peered out into the hallway, he saw the shadow of someone standing around the corner hopping up and down while clutching one foot. "How could I stub my toe like that," the person muttered to himself.

Yugi froze. _Wait…I know that voice, but…it can't be…_

As soon as the person started moving down the hallway again, Yugi quietly tiptoed out of his room and after them. When he reached the corner, he peered around it and saw the back of the person as they tiptoed down the stairs.

Concerned, Yugi softly moved towards the stairs and peered down them to see the person open the door to the mansion and move outside.

Once they were out, Yugi quickly darted down the stairs and out the door. The person had started running down the gold brick walkway leading to the mansion.

Under the moonlight, Yugi could just see the back of an orange headband with strands of grey hair peeking out from under it.

"STOP!" he called out.

The person froze. He slowly turned around and stared into Yugi's wide eyes.

"Grandpa?" Yugi cried out. It was impossible-and yet there he was, standing in front of Spencer's mansion, in a world which he shouldn't have had access to. "What are you doing here?"

"No, young man, that's my question," Grandpa replied, shifting into annoyed parent mode. He walked right up to Yugi and asked him with accusatory eyes, "How long have you and your friends been moonlighting as superhuman teens in some completely different world from ours?"

Yugi paused. He looked down at the ground and sheepishly replied, "Err…a couple of months, maybe?"

"That long?!" he cried out.

Yugi sighed. He murmured, "I'm sorry, Grandpa…I know you must be mad that I kept such a big secret from you, but-"

He was interrupted by Grandpa suddenly letting out a loud laugh. "No, no, no," he cried, "I'm surprised that I didn't find out about it sooner! Of course I understand that you didn't tell me; if I hadn't seen what I saw today with my own eyes, I might have thought you were insane-no offense meant, of course."

Yugi heaved a sigh of relief. "None taken," he smiled. "Sometimes I think I'm crazy, too."

_Don't worry; eventually you'll get so used to it that you'll think you're insane for not believing in it, _a voice suddenly said to them telepathically.

Grandpa looked around in shock and asked, "Who said that?"

Yugi sighed. "You'll find out in a moment," he wanly smiled.

A white orb of light suddenly floated down in front the two and opened up to form a portal that D.M., B.E., and F.S. stared through.

"Hello, you three," Yugi smiled.

Grandpa just stared at them with his mouth wide open.

_Good evening, Yugi, _D.M. spoke. _Hello, Mr. Muto. Nice to see you._

"Ahh…Nice to see you, too…" Grandpa sputtered out.

"Would the two of you please step through here," F.S. said, making the 'come hither' sign with his index finger. "We have something that we absolutely must discuss with you two."

Yugi paused. "Uh, there's not a problem with my Grandpa knowing our secret, is there?" he asked worriedly.

_No, no, there's no problem with that at all,_ D.M. assured him. _Just come on in._

Slowly, Yugi walked over to the portal and stepped through it; after some hesitation, Grandpa stepped through the portal after him, and once he was through, it shrank back into a white orb and vanished.

* * *

The two found themselves standing at the top of the stairs leading to the gods' metal-framed portal doorway. At the bottom stood the three, right in front of their hovering screen and control panel which let them observe what went on in different dimensions.

_Come down, please,_ D.M. said, _so that we can begin._

Yugi and Grandpa stepped down the stairs. Once they reached the bottom, D.M. began: _Now then-first off, sir, we have to ask for your apologies. We're the ones who kept shoving you all over the place through the course of the day._

"You're the ones who pushed me through that doorway?" Grandpa cried out.

"You forced my Grandpa in here?" Yugi said. "Why?"

_You'll see. Now, sir, that wasn't our only play in this-we were also the ones who gave Spencer the idea to take your grandson and his friends on a vacation, made sure you saw Yugi and Spencer leaving your home and followed after them, got them to leave so that we could let you into Spencer's house, and conjured up the spirit you saw so that you'd go up to and check out that particular bedroom._

"Why would you do all of that?" Yugi asked.

_Hold on, hold on, _D.M. said, holding up one hand. _Let us speak._

"What about those visions? Were those your work too?" Grandpa asked, folding his arms.

_Actually, no. That was the result of the actions we took_, D.M. replied. _And they weren't visions, technically-they were memories._

"Memories? Of wha-" Suddenly, Grandpa slammed down onto his knees and clutched as his head.

"Grandpa?!" Yugi cried out, kneeling down beside him.

_Don't worry, Yugi, he's okay, _D.M. assured him. _We'll show you what's happening in his mind._

D.M. waved his hand, and a small, portal-like object appeared above Yugi's grandfather's head. Within it, Yugi saw a familiar image of a child crying in the middle of the streets of Kingrah at night, with Susiros holding him close to her in a false hug.

"Wait…I remember that…" Yugi breathed. "That was the dream I had about Yuri…"

_Actually, Yugi, that technically wasn't your dream,_ D.M. said. _That dream was your grandfather's; you only had it because as family, you were able to connect to his._

"What?!" Yugi cried out.

_Just watch now,_ D.M. said, _there's a bit more to it this time…_

* * *

"They just won't stop…" Yuri sobbed, "Even when my daddy's the most powerful being in this world, they just won't stop…"

"Oh, I'm sorry, sweetie," Susiros said in her fake sweetheart voice. "This has been going on for quite a while, hasn't it…"

Yuri nodded.

"It's so sad…practically no one can stop it…and you certainly can't get your daddy to do it, since he has much, much more pressing matters to deal with…"

Yuri looked up at her and asked, "So what should I do?"

Susiros shrugged. "I'm sorry, hon, but as long as you're around, those thugs are pretty much just going to keep using you as their punching bag." She shook her head. "It looks like your only way to get out of it is to…escape."

"Escape?" Yuri repeated.

Susiros gave him a deceptively sweet smile. "Yes, little one…escape…not to somewhere else in this world, since almost everyone would know who you were…but perhaps to somewhere where you'll be guaranteed to find that everlasting peace and happiness which you desperately need after going through so much down here…" She shrugged. "Oh, well, but it's just a thought." She stood up and waved to the little one, "Well, goodbye, little guy. And if I never see you again, have fun wherever you go at last."

She turned and walked back down the alleyway, disappearing into its darkness.

Yuri sat there in the street for a moment, deep in thought. Finally, he stood up with a determined look in his eyes. "That's it…" he muttered to himself. "I'm ending this pain once and for all…"

He held out his hand in front of him. A staff similar to the Dark Magician Girl's appeared in it. He clutched it firmly with both hands and held the tip of the staff out in front of his chest. The staff glowed with a soft, light blue light.

"Goodbye, world," Yuri said through clenched teeth, "I won't be sorry to be leaving."

Before he could drive the staff through his chest, however, a white orb suddenly appeared behind him and widened into the gods' glowing white portal. D.M. reached out his hand and yanked Yuri by his shirt through the portal.

Yuri cried out in shock as he flew through the air and all the way down onto the ground of the three's portal room, where he landed flat on his stomach with his arms and legs sprawled out in front of and behind him.

Yuri looked up and stared in shock as the gods walked down the stairs and right up to him. "Wha…" he cried out.

_Prince Yuri, how could you even _consider _doing what you were just about to do?_ D.M. told him telepathically. _You have terrible problems in your current life, yes, but they're certainly nothing which you should destroy yourself over!_

"Says who?!" Yuri's anger snapped him out of his shock and made him get to his feet. "Almost each and every single day I have to deal with those three creeps beating me into a pulp while everybody just watches because they're too scared to interfere with them, and I can't even get my high and mighty father to do a thing about it because he's too busy with all of his oh so important kingly duties such as partying down with other defenders of his dimension! I'm going through a horrible living hell and I'm sick and tired of it!" He looked down at the ground and started crying again. "I just want it to end…I just want it all to go away…and I don't see how there's any other way to stop it except-"

_NO,_ D.M. snapped. _NO, NO, AND NO. DESTROYING YOURSELF IS NOT 'THE WAY'; IT SHOULDN'T EVEN BE AN OPTION!! _

"SHUT UP!" Yuri yelled at him. "Why should I even listen to you?! You three could destroy those son-of-a-bakas if you wanted to, and you just let them go on with it!! How can you do such a thing?!" He angrily slammed onto his knees and pounded his two fists onto the ground. "Practically my whole world is against me…" he sobbed. "If I dropped dead, no one would even care…"

D.M., B.E., and F.S. stared down at him sadly. Finally, D.M. stepped forward, knelt down in front of Yuri, and gently placed one hand onto his shoulder. _Yuri, _he said gently, _please look at me._

Yuri looked up at him with a mixture of anger and sadness in his violet eyes.

_I realize that you may not think so at this moment, but destroying yourself shouldn't be the way to get away from your problems. And child, if you just listen to us, then we'll give you an alternative which we only offer once in thousands and thousands of years. You'll still be living a life, but it won't be as Prince Yuri. It won't even be in this same world. You'll have a second chance to experience the laughter, love, and wonders that life can truly offer you-and we promise you, you won't regret it._

Yuri blinked. "That's impossible…isn't it?"

D.M. smiled. _Nope. It's called, 'reincarnation'. Basically, we remove your soul from its current physical form and place it into an entirely different one; your soul will then adapt that form so that your current one will remain _slightly_ similar to its previous one, but not exactly the same. You'll be starting life over and reliving it once more as someone entirely new, and we promise, we'll make sure that this time around, everything goes much better for you._

Yuri peered at him with a suspicious look. "That sounds too good to be true. What's the catch?"

_Nothing you would object to, we believe. First off, all of your memories are going to have to be locked away within your soul, because you won't be allowed to have any sort of easily accessible experiences or anything which would remind you of your past life and prevent you from actually living out your new one. Second, since we're taking your physical form away, that means you're going to lose your godlike powers and have to live out life as a mortal being. You'll age more quickly, and you won't be nearly indestructible, but again, it's so that you won't have some sort of reminder of your previous life. And third, we'll have to put you into a completely different world from this current one-even the mere presence of beings from your past life in your world would be enough to get the memories of your previous life back out into the open._

"That's all right by me," Yuri replied. "The less I recall about this horror, the better."

_So you agree to our offer, then?_

Yuri got to his feet and nodded. "Okay, I accept."

D.M. smiled. _Good. Now, then, let us begin._

He held out his hand towards Yuri. The staff flew out of Yuri's hands and right into D.M's. Once it had reached him, the staff glowed with black and white magic and shrank down into a little charm on a tiny gold-chained necklace. _We'll use this to store away all of your magic and your current physical form. Only by reconnecting with your new form and soul will it ever be able to be set free again. Are you certain you're ready for this?_

Yuri nodded. "Most definitely."

D.M. held out his hand at Yuri. The child shut his eyes and his body transformed into thousands of tiny light blue sparks which swirled up and into the tiny charm. All that was left of him was a glowing, light blue orb which represented his soul. Yuri felt as though he was everywhere and nowhere all at once, like he'd formed a connection to the universe once he'd lost the limitations of his physical being

With another wave of his hand, the light blue started rescinding into the orb and the outer layer started turning white. Yuri himself now felt like darkness was swallowing him up, with all of his memories, his feelings, and his experiences…simply going away…locked up…and supposedly never to be seen again…


	7. Chapter Six: Rebirth

Chapter Six: Rebirth

The image above Yugi's Grandpa's head faded away into nothingness. Yugi stared at the space it had been in for a moment, then helped his grandfather get back to his feet.

"Grandpa," Yugi asked, "how did you know all of that about Yuri?"

_You don't see?_ D.M. asked him.

The two looked up at him and shook their heads. "I'm just as baffled," Grandpa replied. "Where did all of these images come from?"

D.M. shook his head. _Still not seeing that the impossible might just be possible, hmm? Well, let us explain: Once Yuri had willingly given up his physical form to us, we took his soul and, after a little bit of traveling to different dimensions and time periods within those dimensions, finally decided he could be placed within a human body of a child in a comfortably well off and caring family which we believed would allow him to follow his dreams and fully explore all that life had to give him. And, from what we've observed over these past decades, we're happy to say that our beliefs were correct. _

"However," F.S. continued, "someone from Yuri's original world started coming into his new one with frequency, and like we said to him, just the mere presence of that someone was enough to start making the memory barrier we'd put up slowly start to crack. So any idea which Yuri had had of never even remembering his past life in his old world again had become impossible to carry out."

_So, we've decided it'd just be best to take down that barrier entirely in one day rather than in bits and pieces. _D.M. smiled. _And with our bit of influence plus a little literal push and shove, today has been that day._

Both Yugi and his grandfather let this sink in.

_You do know what we're trying to tell you, right? _D.M. asked.

"Yeah, but…" Yugi let his voice trail off. "What you're saying…it's impossible…isn't it?"

Grandpa couldn't even speak; he was flat out shell-shocked.

_You still don't believe? _D.M. sighed. _Okay, then-it appears that we're going to have to be a bit blunt._

D.M. held his hand out in front of him. He let it glow with black and white magic light. The Dark Magician Girl's staff as a charm charm on a golden chain appeared in the palm of his hand.

The jewelry floated up and over towards Grandpa Muto. He and Yugi could simply stare as the necklace fastened itself around his neck and started glowing with soft, light blue light.

The next thing Yugi knew, his grandfather's entire body suddenly glowed with blinding light and rose up into the air.

"GRANDPA!" Yugi screamed in horror.

_The energy coming from that thing…_ the Pharaoh said to him, _it's incredibly powerful._

"What's happening to him?!" Yugi yelled at the three gods.

_You'll see,_ D.M. replied.

In the light, Grandpa Muto felt a large amount of strange power flow all throughout him. He felt as though his entire self was being infused with vitality and energy, going from being merely human to…something much more. A wave of sadness and childlike innocence washed over him along with the energy, as though said emotions were connected with it.

_What is this…?_

_**Why am I awake…?**_

_Who's speaking…?_

_**How could I have come back…?**_

_Is this…me?_

_**I'm supposed to be the only one here…who's talking?**_

_Are you…Yuri?_

_**I should be someone else…why am I still me…?**_

_Perhaps I'm the someone else you're talking about…_

_**That can't be…I'm the only me in my soul…aren't I?**_

As the light started to fade away, Yugi saw something flutter down from it. He held out his hands and caught it before it floated onto the ground.

It was his Grandpa's orange headband.

"Yugi, watch out!" F.S. cried.

Yugi looked up once more to see the light had completely faded away, and a person was falling down from where it had been-right about to crash on top of him.

He let out a cry and stepped back. He quickly stretched out his arms and caught the person before they could slam onto the ground, leaning slightly forward from the weight as he did so.

Yugi stared down at the person. It was as though he was looking in the mirror, except the person was wearing a T-shirt with light green sleeves, blue jeans, and white tennis shoes.

Around his neck was the necklace with the Dark Magician Girl charm.

Yugi slightly shook with shock. What the three gods had been telling him finally hit him dead-on.

He looked up at the surprisingly calm gods and tried to speak: "He's…My Grandpa is…was…"

_Yes, Yugi, _D.M. interjected. _Your grandfather is the reincarnation of Prince Yuri. _

_To be continued…_


End file.
